Google Cloud Platform Case Studies How Hipcamp Uses Event Data to Drive Growth

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	How Hipcamp Uses Event Data to Drive Growth Google Cloud Platform

How Hipcamp Uses Event Data to Drive Growth

Google Cloud Platform

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Data-as-a-Service Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Applicable Industries	Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Demand Planning & Forecasting Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services	Data Science Services
Challenge	Hipcamp, an online platform for discovering and booking campsites, was facing challenges in accessing comprehensive data to understand their customers’ experience. The company was using a set of special-purpose analytics tools to track web events and visualize behavioral trends, each with its own database. This resulted in inconsistent data across the different tools, making it hard to understand exactly where the data conflicts came from. To access financial data, engineers had to write manual SQL queries and it was impossible to handle common exceptions such as partial refunds and promotions. The company’s marketers were unable to identify unique visitors across multiple devices or tie anonymous visits to customer transactions. This meant that they couldn’t accurately manage the customer acquisition funnel, and were left to guess what was working and where they should improve. Read More
About Customer	Hipcamp was founded in 2013 to simplify the process of finding the perfect campsite. The platform allows users to search, discover, and book a wide range of campsites across the United States, including ranches, farms, vineyards, and nature preserves, as well as public parks and campgrounds. Hipcamp is a leader in the “land sharing” movement, connecting landowners who want to keep their land undeveloped with responsible, ecologically minded campers. The revenue from camping funds the conservation of the land, so everyone benefits. The company relies on data to manage every aspect of its online business, from customer acquisition to financial performance. Read More
Solution	Hipcamp first used Segment Warehouses to consolidate and streamline the collection and management of their web event data. With Segment, a single API captures data and trends for a variety of analytics tools in the form that each tool needs, writing the data into separate, event specific tables in a Redshift instance. This allowed the engineers to aggregate data used by three different analytics tools and easily validate data integrity across the tools. Next, Hipcamp introduced Looker. Since Looker connected directly to their database, Hipcamp could seamlessly link information across their data sources without the overhead of typical ETL processes. Once connected, Looker provided users with a centralized platform to define and access customized business metrics. An even happier discovery was Looker Blocks, analytical templates that make it fast and easy to set up specific functions. Using Looker’s Segment Block, a single Hipcamp engineer was able to complete the integration with Segment and set up a custom, dynamic view of the customer acquisition funnel— in days rather than weeks or months. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Data-as-a-Service

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Industries

Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

Hipcamp, an online platform for discovering and booking campsites, was facing challenges in accessing comprehensive data to understand their customers’ experience. The company was using a set of special-purpose analytics tools to track web events and visualize behavioral trends, each with its own database. This resulted in inconsistent data across the different tools, making it hard to understand exactly where the data conflicts came from. To access financial data, engineers had to write manual SQL queries and it was impossible to handle common exceptions such as partial refunds and promotions. The company’s marketers were unable to identify unique visitors across multiple devices or tie anonymous visits to customer transactions. This meant that they couldn’t accurately manage the customer acquisition funnel, and were left to guess what was working and where they should improve.

About Customer

Hipcamp was founded in 2013 to simplify the process of finding the perfect campsite. The platform allows users to search, discover, and book a wide range of campsites across the United States, including ranches, farms, vineyards, and nature preserves, as well as public parks and campgrounds. Hipcamp is a leader in the “land sharing” movement, connecting landowners who want to keep their land undeveloped with responsible, ecologically minded campers. The revenue from camping funds the conservation of the land, so everyone benefits. The company relies on data to manage every aspect of its online business, from customer acquisition to financial performance.

Solution

Hipcamp first used Segment Warehouses to consolidate and streamline the collection and management of their web event data. With Segment, a single API captures data and trends for a variety of analytics tools in the form that each tool needs, writing the data into separate, event specific tables in a Redshift instance. This allowed the engineers to aggregate data used by three different analytics tools and easily validate data integrity across the tools. Next, Hipcamp introduced Looker. Since Looker connected directly to their database, Hipcamp could seamlessly link information across their data sources without the overhead of typical ETL processes. Once connected, Looker provided users with a centralized platform to define and access customized business metrics. An even happier discovery was Looker Blocks, analytical templates that make it fast and easy to set up specific functions. Using Looker’s Segment Block, a single Hipcamp engineer was able to complete the integration with Segment and set up a custom, dynamic view of the customer acquisition funnel— in days rather than weeks or months.

Impact #1	Operations: The head of operations immediately put together a dashboard for visualizing KPIs, with only minimal help from an engineer. Now everyone can work dynamically with the visualized data in meetings, quickly changing dimensions or drilling down for more detail, with no need for disconnected reports from special-purpose tools and no compromise on the rules that fit Hipcamp’s business.
Impact #2	Marketing: For the first time, the marketing team has been able to view and manage an accurate conversion funnel. Engineers set up a Universal ID system that identifies unique visitors across devices, from clicking an ad to browsing to booking a campsite. When marketers want an even deeper understanding of the data, they can view the SQL with a click and understand exactly where the data is coming from.
Impact #3	Finance: Financial operations have been transformed with real-time data discovery. The engineers used Looker to create reusable reports and dashboards that establish monthly goals and performance scores, along with the ability to snapshot revenue on the fly. The company is basing more and more decisions on growth, customer acquisition, and customer value now that in-depth analysis is just a click away.

Impact #1

Operations: The head of operations immediately put together a dashboard for visualizing KPIs, with only minimal help from an engineer. Now everyone can work dynamically with the visualized data in meetings, quickly changing dimensions or drilling down for more detail, with no need for disconnected reports from special-purpose tools and no compromise on the rules that fit Hipcamp’s business.

Impact #2

Marketing: For the first time, the marketing team has been able to view and manage an accurate conversion funnel. Engineers set up a Universal ID system that identifies unique visitors across devices, from clicking an ad to browsing to booking a campsite. When marketers want an even deeper understanding of the data, they can view the SQL with a click and understand exactly where the data is coming from.

Impact #3

Finance: Financial operations have been transformed with real-time data discovery. The engineers used Looker to create reusable reports and dashboards that establish monthly goals and performance scores, along with the ability to snapshot revenue on the fly. The company is basing more and more decisions on growth, customer acquisition, and customer value now that in-depth analysis is just a click away.

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Overview

How Hipcamp Uses Event Data to Drive Growth

Operational Impact